Microsoft helps firms manage carbon footprint

Environmental Sustainability Dashboard records eco data

Businesses can now tell exactly how much of the planet they're screwing, thanks to a new Environmental Sustainability Dashboard for Microsoft's Dynamics AX resource planning software.

The new toolset, available to exisiting Dynamics AX customers for free, allows businesses to capture data needed to measure energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The new add-on harnesses Microsoft Dynamics' ability to give employees a personalised Role Centre, based on the information they need to do their job. The dashboard serves as the environmental manager's Role Centre, rapidly raising awareness of environmental initiatives and propagating green practices.

No more greenwash?

"The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics AX helps companies address one of the biggest challenges facing business today - the need to gather and track environmental data," said Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist at Microsoft.

"Equipped with this information, companies will be able to make decisions that benefit both their bottom line and the environment."

According to a recent survey of IT businesses by Forrester Research, 55 per cent expressed interest in reducing energy-related expenses, and 50 per cent expressed interest in doing the right thing for the environment.

Which presumably means 45 per cent wanted to burn more power and exactly half had no interest at all in environmental ethics. Reassuring, eh?